Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Klar Ken T5477’s Miscellanous Musings

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So with the coming cancellation of the Legion, I just cannot get up the enthusiasm to write any more fanfic. However, I have a bunch of stuff rattling around in my head, so I thought I would dump it here.

The main reason that I post this stuff is to demonstrate that ideas are easy. True creativity is a little harder. Competent storytelling is harder still. But there is no excuse for blandness in comics, especially with the Legion, with its multitude of characters, galactic scope and tremendous, mostly unexplored history. Histories.

So for what it’s worth, here goes.

As part of our continuing series spotlighting unique individuals across the Galaxy, we interviewed the last surviving full-blooded Kryptonian, Nam-Ek, the ‘Rondor Man’.
We were graciously invited to his isolated villa deep in the Daxamite Wild Forest.
(editor’s note: due to side-effects of the Rondor Man’s immortality elixir, our reporter was provided with a Gustox inhaler, which temporarily ‘paralyzes’ the olfactory sense for the duration of this interview.)

DIPN: Many of our subscribers are unaware that a full-blooded Kryptonian still exists in the Galaxy.

NE: (laughs) I am not a typical Kryptonian. I am a relic of a bygone age.

DIPN: Exactly how old are you?

NE: Truthfully, I have moved around a lot; different planets, different time-streams. In Earth-years, I believe I must be about a millennium and a half old, but I stopped counting birthdays a long time ago.

DIPN: They say you are effectively immortal? Can a mortal really live forever?

NE: Death may be out there for me somewhere, but I haven’t found it yet. Based on my own centuries-old analyses, I believe that my body can heal from any injury. Daxamite medical specialists who have examined me have come to the same conclusion. I allow them to send their graduate students out her to examine me once a year—it does not appear that my healing factor has been degrading.

DIPN: How did this happen? Can your condition benefit the rest of the Galaxy?

NE: On Krypton, there was a beast called a rondor, something like a purple Earth rhinoceros. Its horn had amazing healing abilities—putting an injured person in contact with the horn of a living animal would stimulate the Kryptonian immune system, fighting off any disease, healing any injury. The beasts were terribly rare, and fairly aggressive, though, so it was always a last-resort sort of treatment. As a biologist, zoologist, and physician, I made the study of the rondors my life’s work. I even vivisected and dissected several of the creatures. I’m not proud of it—it was against all the laws of nature and Krypton—but I was overwhelmed by the possibility of curing disease—all disease—forever.
I was arrested and imprisoned by the authorities—killing a rondor was a felony—but returned to the work after my release. I want to emphasize- they were right, I was wrong. My overzealous pursuit of this line of inquiry led to the extinction of the rondors, even before the destruction of Krypton.
However, before that had happened, I was involved in an accident: long-time exposure to the various glandular extracts, as well as a peculiar form of radiation in the rondor habitat caused me to assume rondor-like characteristics. My skin turned a grayish-purple. My hair turned white. I grew a single rondor-like horn from my forehead. And I developed the characteristic rondor smell. I am told there is a creature on your Earth- the polecat? And a plant—some kind of giant orchid? Which both produce offensive odors. But the rondor scent is much worse. So nauseating that some individuals pass out when exposed to it. Without some sort of protection, no man or beast will approach this villa closer than a mile.
The rondor themselves were not immortal, but the accident so stimulated by physiology that I instantly heal myself from any illness of injury.

DIPN: And you escaped the destruction of Krypton through the Phantom Zone?

NE: No, I was living on Krypton when it exploded. I spent decades in the vacuum of space, floating, dying, reconstituting, over and over again. But you may know that kryptonite can be a powerful energy source, and an alien mining craft rescued me. They immediately locked me up in an airtight vault, the stench in that ship became so overpowering.
I eventually made my way to Earth, after I learned of Kal-El, the Kryptonian survivor. My mental state was terribly fragile, having spent all that time in the vacuum of space, and when I gained the powers a yellow sun grants Kryptonians…
Well, let us just say I did not behave rationally. That is when I was placed in the Phantom Zone.

DIPN: But you were released on Rokyn, eventually?

NE: I was released on Earth, accidentally, with a couple of Kryptonian psionics. That was when I was completely immolated—down to the bone—by a Kryptonian pyrokinetic. But my body regrew itself instantly. Kal-El put me back in the Zone, eventually, but it was a wake-up call. If I was going to live forever, I figured I had better get my head together. Kal-El and the Kandorian Council eventually decided to release me into Kandor, the bottle-city, but the city was so small… I really can’t live around other people, not without causing extreme discomfort. After the founding of Rokyn, I was released there, and lived in isolation from the main colony for a while. But by then the Kryptonians were a dying race; insufficient genetic diversity had doomed them. Other humanoids came to Rokyn: Terrans, Krill, Bgztlr, and others. The Kryptonian genome is so diluted there that it has virtually disappeared.

DIPN: And how did you come to Daxam?

NE: I became uncomfortable with even the modest super-powers granted by Rokyn’s orange sun. Also, the cities were expanding, and I needed more distance between myself and civilization.

DIPN: Is Daxam more Krypton-like?

NE: Daxam seems so strange to me. Krypton was huge; ten times the diameter of Earth, and over a hundred times the land mass. A hundred billion Kryptonians called it home. Cities stretching up to the sky, filled with flying vehicles of all description. Android servants did much of the manual labor. Of course, there were wild areas, too. The Scarlet Forest, the Gold Volcanoes, the Flame Falls. So beautiful, but gone now for centuries.
Daxam, on the other hand is a much older world. Volcanic activity is almost unknown, no gold volcanoes, no flame falls. Tectonic activity is carefully regulated to provide power for the population.
The population is also so much smaller. Less than a billion Daxamites, and half of them crowded onto the Crescent Isle, smaller than a single Earth continent. They are incredibly gregarious. When the medical students come out for their week-long annual visit, many of them are deathly homesick by the time they leave. Some even leave before the week is up. Most of them have a psychological need to be surrounded by other Daxamites, all the time.
Did you know that less than one-seventh of Daxamite couples are fertile? Ironic, isn’t it: Daxamite fertility treatments are utilized by hundreds of races, but inadequate for their own people. That means when any couple that does have children, have huge families. Twelve, sixteen kids; then, of course, a couple of dozen aunts and uncles more in to take care of them all. It is not unusual for a hundred family members to be crowded into a single one of their rambling apartments. An old hermit like me is out of place, out here in the forest.
Most of Daxam is wild. The Hyperborean and Antarctic Wastes at the poles, the Great Circumequatorial Desert, the Countless Islands. There have been a few families: renegades, defectors, the disenfranchised, a few revolutionary factions, and some utopians… that have settled in these places. But they are relatively small groups, unknown to most of Daxam.
Ah, and the forest here. Strange turquoise skies, emerald leaves and grasses. So alien and unsettling, compared to the peaceful red skies and scarlet forests of home. The only familiar sight is the red sun shining in the sky. Still, it has been my home now for several Daxamite centuries. I built every stone of the place myself, did all the plumbing, and installed the geothermal electrics. I grow the sorts of food in my garden that pleases me.
“My food is not that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment.” – You want to put quotation marks around that last-- And just as well my needs are so simple, for man and beast together shun this place. Even the birds do not congregate to sing here.

DIPN: There are other heavy-gravity worlds under red suns…

NE: There is Kormon, an ever more alien world. It has a dead neutron star at its core. Although its gravity is comparable to that of Daxam, or long-lost Krypton, it is actually smaller than Earth’s moon. Scarcely four hundred million Kormons call it home, and yet it is as densely populated as Krypton was in its heyday. An odd people, too. Nearly genetically identical, it is difficult to tell the men from the women. Ther are perfectly—too perfectly—genetically adapted to their environment. Unable to handle stress, and even more xenophobic than the Daxamites. Their world is rich in heavy metals, yet poor in lighter ones—aluminum, iron, copper, magnesium—almost unknown there, yet they will now establish trade with the U.P. Did you know they are so alike, they each have identical fingerprints?
No, I am better here on Daxam.

DIPN: If I may say so, you seem content with your life, in a melancholy way.

NE: Well, I think I am learning to develop patience. I think that patience will serve me well throughout the coming years.
DIPN: Thank you for your time, Nam-Ek. You have been an interesting guest.

NE: Thank you. I understand that the Terran Time Institute forecasts that humanity will continue to thrive for another eighty millennia, at least. I will be here, I think, should you care to visit me again.

Nam-Ek

On the occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday, we asked long-time journalist Klar Ken T5477 to provide us an encapsulation relating how he came to work for DIPN.

I was born in Earth-orbit on the Medicus Satellite in the year 2939, either on March 1st, or on February 28th, depending where on our globe you happen to live. My father was Jon Feggo, at the time a medical technician and doctoral candidate, my mother was Zara, a Daxamite research physician. I was named Jon Feggo, Junior.

At that time, there were a number of Daxamite medical personnel working on Medicus. The onboard environment was carefully controlled. There was no lead anywhere on board, and shields filtered out the sub-yellow electromagnetic radiation that would have otherwise given the Daxamites unwanted super-powers.
I spent my youth as most Earth-born children, taking lessons from the Standard Educational Curriculum Broadcast, interacting with interest networks across the United Planets, and playing the sorts of games that all children play.
When I was fourteen, my father unexpectedly contracted the Pain Plague. There was no treatment in those days, and within twenty-four hours he had died.

Two years later, the Medicus Satellite research program closed down. It was not until fifty years later, with generous funding arranged by the philanthropist R.J. Brande that the current “Medicus One” satellite opened to continue its research.
My mother and I ‘returned home’ to Daxam—a world I had never known. Shortly after arriving, I began experiencing strange symptoms of discomfort: I had difficulty breathing, my heartbeat was irregular, and I was exhausted all the time. It was determined that my half-human heritage made it impossible to live in Daxam’s heavy gravity environment for extended periods of time without incurring severe damage to all my physiological functions. As I had always been interested in writing, I applied to Oxford University on Earth, eventually taking a double major in Interlac Composition and English Literature.

My visits with my mother have been frequent, but unfortunately brief. She is a spry one hundred and six, an emeritus hospital board member, and is still called in for occasional consultations. She is also Daxam’s most respected authorities on home agriculture and the cultivation of root vegetables.

At the time, there was a renewed interest in professional journalism, an occupation that has waxed and waned in popularity throughout the years. I began making contributions to the Daily Interplanetary News sub-etheric broadcasts, meanwhile continuing to pursue a master’s degree in Journalism at Oxford.

In 2963, I was approached by an executive at the DIPN Entertainment division. They were interested in creating a product placement holo-vid series about a fictional descendant of the 20th-century Superman, supposedly an employee of DIPN. Because of my general resemblance to that historical figure, as well as my half-Daxamite powers, they wanted to screen-test me for the role.

In those days, it was extremely difficult to “fake” psychic experiences. Today, of course, the sensational illusion of freely flying through space, or lifting massive boulders, can be convincingly duplicated by CPI technology. But at that time, the “stunts” I did were real—sensations recorded from my mind and broadcast to the subscribers at home. The series lasted for two years, and was modestly popular. I was so identified with the role, however, that DIPN changed my byline from “Jon Feggo Jr.” to “Klar Ken T5477”, the supposed alter-ego of the fictional Superman of 2963 - 2965.

With the myriad of holo-vid productions since then, there are probably few who remember by foray into the theater. While it was entertaining, both for me and for subscribers, I have found much more fulfillment in my continuing position as a journalist. I have interviewed some of the most famous, infamous, fascinating, and dangerous personalities in the known Galaxy. I have visited worlds and sites that I could have never imagined possible, when I was studying at Oxford.

One interesting bit of trivia, for those who do remember the old show, is that the actress who played Klar’s co-worker Lyra 3916 also played the villain Muto, with heavy holographic makeup. Originally from Trom, all the transmutations she did on-vid were completely authentic. Unfortunately, she passed away on her homeworld, shortly after the serial ended, in the Great Trommite disaster.

Klar Ken T5477 has begun working on an autobiography, recounting his fifty-plus years in broadcast journalism, tentatively titled “Another Mild-Mannered Reporter”

Don and Gayla Mahlons are exhibits at the Galactic Sentients Zoo on Bismari. The following is an excerpt from and interview with the Metropolis Daily InterPlanetary News

MARCH 3014

DIPN: Many people would find it unusual for two people to choose to live in a cage.

Don: It is unusual! There are over one hundred billion humans in the United Planets, and there are only two in the Galactic Sentients Zoo!

Gayla: Everyone needs somewhere to retire, and the Zoo seemed perfect for us. And how many people get to retire at our age?

DIPN: I notice that it says “EARTH: HUMANS” on the outside of your display. But you aren’t really from Earth, are you?

Gayla: All humans are from Earth originally, aren’t we? No matter how long we’ve been gone, our ancestors lived there once upon a time.

Don: It’s true, we were Winathan farmers, born and bred. Our children are still on Winath, and Gayla and I both have siblings there. Of course, we’re citizens of Bismari now, aren’t we? But that doesn’t make us any less human, does it?

DIPN: Tell me how many other species are represented in the Zoo.

Don: Oh, don’t ask me that. They say there are over 800 different worlds represented here, spread out over an area of five square miles. Each display has its own habitat control, duplicating the conditions of the exhibit’s homeworld. Some even have artificial gravity generators!

Gayla: Our neighbors are Durlans on one side, and Ulthat on the other. Across the way are the Gordanian and Gamorrean exhibits. But Don and I have never taken the opportunity to tour the entire zoo.

Don: I understand that there is an aquarium with some sort of Atlanteans, Hykraians and Gil’Dispan, but as Gayla said, we have never seen them.

DIPN: How is it that you have never seen the whole zoo?

Gayla: Oh, there is not time for that. We have thirteen days off every year—they put up a sign saying “Exhibit Being Cleaned”—and another two weeks vacation besides. But why would we want to spend time touring the Zoo? We usually spend that time with the grandchildren back on Winath. Don always says we’ll go to Ventura one of these years, but that’s just talk.

DIPN: Tell me about your exhibit.

Don: Well, it’s eight hundred square feet, but only half of that is visible to the public. The bedroom, baths, and W.C. are all completely private. You can look into our kitchen, dining room, and living room though, and we do an exhibition of Terran cooking every day.

Gayla: Of course, we don’t get the fresh fruits and vegetables we did on Winath. We just have to make do. But they provide us with some very high-quality preserved and synth foods.

Don: And there is quite a holo-vid collection. There are literally millions of titles to choose from. Some of it samples the old “flickers” from the very beginning of human recording. No tri-D, no color no sound! Fascinating. The print library is even more fantastic! Interlac translations of ancient Babylonian, Sumerian, and Egyptian texts—some dating back nearly ten thousand years. And of course, we always get the latest releases, both print and holo-vid, as soon as they come out.Why, we even have a daily subscription to the Daily Planet feed!

Gayla: And, of course, we have the very finest in Roboclean, which keeps the living quarters spic-and-span. And aside from the one meal a day which we cook, we are also provided with two well-balanced meals from the Zoo.

DIPN: What about children?

Don: All the exhibits here are well past child-bearing age for their particular species. The Zoo is just not set up to care for and educate children.

DIPN: But the two of you are so young: only in your fifties. Surely you could have more children if you wanted to?

Don: Not without medical intervention. Ha-ha. Gayla and I had our family naturally, and very early. They are all adults now, and have inherited the farm back on Winath.

Gayla: I think people underestimate the intrusion of modern medical science into having and raising a family these days. When you want children, just go to the doctor, take a couple of pills, and nine months later—a baby! Some people even start families with alien species now, and don’t give a second thought to the fact that their DNA would be naturally incompatible. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; but Don and I were old-fashioned, and raised a family the old-fashioned way.

Don: When we learned about the opportunities here at the Zoos, we decided to leave the farm to the kids, and live the second half of our life here on Bismari.

DIPN: Is it true you receive no compensation?

Gayla: Oh, there’s plenty of compensation. A beautiful home, fine food. We have a high-quality printer which downloads the latest clothing fashions and furniture styles on a regular basis. Don has already mentioned the Entertainment Center. We even have a travel allowance for our annual vacations. But the only actual money we have are the credits we left Winath with. I suppose that’s why a trip to Ventura would be such a treat: a chance to spend a little money.

Don: Gamble it away, she means. We live like royalty here; months go by without our having to spend anything at all. The perfect retirement: everything provided, and no responsibilities!

Gayla: Except cooking that one meal per day!

DIPN: Is there anything you would wish for?

Gayla: It would be nice if the kids would bring the grandchildren to visit. I know our place is small, and there are no facilities for them to stay overnight here—they would have to rent a startel—but it would be nice to see them more often. They have only come to visit once since we moved here.

Don: Chaz and his family have never visited us at all at the display. So, yes, that would be nice. Oh, and Chaz, if you see this, call your mother!

DIPN: Thank you, Don and Gayla. It has been a pleasure to speak with you.

Don: I think the Zoos are doing a great work, increasing understanding between the various sentient species of the Galaxy. So come to the Zoo in your neighborhood! And if any one of your subscribers would be interested in retirement as an exhibit, they can contact the Galactic Sentients Zoological Society at UPGov. Galsentzoosoc@up.gov

Concept: The Legion of Super-Gorillas

Aurora: Winged, albino female gorilla from Wingor, a former colony of Thanagar, with the ability to fly unaided through space.

Telestia: Inhabitant of the Gorilla World, colonized by the people of Gorilla City, Earth. She has telepathic and telekinetic powers on par with Solavar or Grodd.

Titano 2: Like Colossal Boy, able to increase his size. Also hais Red Kryptonite Vision, which produces random, bizarre effects.

Phantom Gorilla: She is able to become an intangible phantom, and travel unaided through myriad dimensions.

Whizzy, the 31st-century Super-cat: Because every group needs a token “alien” member.

Chameleon Gorilla: Actually, a 31st-century version of Chameleon Cat (see the adventures of the Space Canine Patrol Agency), and another token “alien”.

Congorilla 55: Golden gorilla able to temporarily exchange minds with any other living being.

Ultra, the Multi-Gorilla: Strength (green), magnetism (blue), electricity (yellow), flight (orange).

Character: MetaGene (Eugene Hugo) is a mutant with the ability to shift his DNA makeup between the various Terran races. He has fourteen forms. He replicates the appearance and abilities of a typical member of these racial groups; in no case do his powers equal the level of the abilities of the Legionnaires.

01. Atlantis [Atlantean]
Powers: Ability to breath underwater (both salt and freshwater); enhanced strength and resilience to enable living under high pressure at the bottom of the sea; rudimentary telepathy (talks to fish); can survive only 1 hour out of water.
Appearance: Dark hair, green eyes

02. Bismoll [Bismollean]
Powers: Able to eat and digest any material
Appearance: Dark curly hair, blue eyes.

03. Braal [Braalien]
Powers: Ferromagnetokinesis
Appearance: Straight dark hair, blue eyes.

04. Carggg [Cargggite]
Powers: Triplication
Appearance: Light brown hair, brown eyes

05. Geeqou [Geeqouan]
Powers: Hyper-pheromonic aura
Appearance: Curly blond hair, blue eyes, taller, more robust musculature

06. Janus [Janusite]
Powers: Two heads
Appearance: Hairless, gray eyes, large-boned

07. Kathoon [Kathooni]
Powers: Infra-red vision
Appearance: indistinguishable from Braalien.

08. Naltor [Naltoran]
Powers: Precognition
Appearance: Silver-white hair, sky-blue eyes

09. Somathur [Somathuran]
Powers: Harmlessly assimilates disease vectors, immunity to poisons.
Appearance: Snow-white skin, lavender hair, lavender eyes

10. StarHaven [Starhanvenite]
Powers: Flight; supra-light speed; enhanced strength and resilience (able to survive in the vacuum of space unaided); modest “tracking” ability.
Appearance: Ruddy, black hair, black eyes

11. Thaar (Tharran Glaciocaster)
Powers: Psychoglaciation
Appearance: Short in stature, white hair, ice-blue eyes

12. Titan [Saturnian]
Powers: Telepathy (Mind-reading, thought-casting)
Appearance: Blond hair, pink eyes, highly arched eyebrows, ears slightly pointed (Imra Ardeen is atypical)

13. Trom [Tromman]
Powers: Elemental transmutation
Appearance: Curly blond hair, green eyes

14. Zwen [Zwenite]
Powers: Petrifico-somnolence
Appearance: Brown hair, gray eyes

15. Default [Initial Terran form]
Powers: none
Appearance: Stereotypical Nigerian African; blue-black complexion, curly black hair, black eyes.

Story Fragment (revised continuity):

The nearest star to Earth is as yet undiscovered in the 21st century: a tiny red dwarf which lies out toward the constellation Aries. Orbiting this dim star at a distance closer than Mercury is to our sun, is a tiny, cold, desert world, its sands covered with a thin layer of iron oxide. Small rivers run from the polar ice caps, watering the world in summer. In addition, a network of canals has been built by the inhabitants, further irrigating the planet.

This is N’Chandra, the new home of the Gold Martians, formerly known as the Yellow Martians, who fled Mars during the war between the White and Green Martians. By the 31st century, there are only a few hundred Elders who still remember Old Mal’Aleca’Andra, in the Solar System. Possessing all the powers of the Martian Manhunter, they spend the majority of their time in meditation and respectful philosophical debate.

When infrequent visitor arrives on their world, most of the Gold Martians assume the forms of rocks, trees, and harmless wild animals. Their riparian cities appear empty, except for a few Elders draped in their brown-and-yellow martian spider-silk robes and cowls. Often, those who leave N’Chandra forget that they were ever there…

Shape-shifting, including invisibility and intangibility
Telepathy and telekinesis, including levitation, psycho-catalysis, and eye-focused energy-blasts
Psionically enhanced strength, speed, and durability
Alien senses, including increased visual acuity across a large portion of the electro-magnetic spectrum
Physical and psychic vulnerability to fire

Location:

Shanghalla is the asteroid on which monuments to the Galaxy’s greatest heroes are display.

Malhaya, on the other hand, is the asteroid upon which the monuments to the Galaxy’s greatest villains are displayed. Of particular interest is the Black Pyramid of Nyarlapatra, the evil queen who exterminated all life in an entire galaxy. OK, so it was only the Small Magellanic Cloud, but that is still pretty impressive.

There is also a monument there dedicated to Cosmic King, Lightning Lord, Saturn Queen, and Superboy-Prime—created centuries ago, long before any of them were born.

Story fragment:

Esper Lass vs. Brainiac 5

After his most recent disastrous encounter with Saturn Queen, Brainiac 5 set up some protections.

Anyone trying to access his mind finds themselves in an expansive virtual meadow, where Querl’s elf-like psyche gaily cavorts among the flowers. In the distance, rimming the horizon, vast computer banks loom, calculating interminably.

In fact, the computers are merely searching for “interesting” strings of numbers within the digits of pi.

The green-and-purple elf is a psychic construction; a psionic firewall separates this area from the rest of Brainiac 5’s computer mind.

Telepathic illusions, mind-control, and telepathic interrogation seem to be effortlessly effectual against the harmless little elf… but back in the real world, Brainiac 5 himself- his true mind and behavior- is unaffected.

And it is a trap. Esper Lass senses there is something wrong. She tries to probe deeper, but steel jaws clamp shut across the sky. Her mind is trapped in the “virtual sandbox” mental world Brainiac 5 has created. Comatose, her body immobile and helpless, she is at the mercy of her intended victim.

Story fragment:

Esper Lass vs. Brainiac 5

This space for rent.

Story fragment:

Esper Lass vs. Brainiac 5

This space for rent.

Proposal: The Legion Academy MMPORPG:

Create your character: First, choose your homeworld. This determines the sort of base power set you have.

Atlantis, Antares. Bgztl, Bismoll, Braal, Carggg, Colu, Dollworld, Durla, Geeqou, Gorilla City, Hykraius, Imsk, Janus, Kathoon, Korlon-Dryad, Naltor, New Themiscrya, Rimbor (no innate powers), Sklar (no innate powers, female only), Somathur, Sorcerer’s World, StarHaven, Talok VIII (Shadow Champion) ,Teall, Thaar, Titan, Trom, Zwen, Zyzan, Apollyon (everyone has powers like Sun Boy), Brobdingnab (everyone has powers like Colossal Boy)

Maybe J586?

Sorry, but you can’t be from Daxam. Or Zrfff.

Now report to Montauk Point for Legion Academy training. You may compete against ‘bots (NPC’s) or other players. As you progress, you learn new skills and applications of your abilities. Skills learned include damage, defense, dodge, all the video game standards. Each base power has different strengths and weaknesses. Eventually, you are sent on missions, either with random groups of players*, or alone. (There would be a feature in which you are able to “friend” other players to form more permanent groups.)

You may also train in martial arts, gaining supplementary skills outside your class. In addition, you might find or purchase various chemicals and devices which further enhance or supplement your abilities, such as: zuunium, norgine, gingold, kathooni steroidal compound, sancha, elasticizing serum, “Green Boy”’s color-changing elixir.

Game play is similar to oh, say, Pirate 101.

As you level up, the missions become more difficult, and your powers become more formidable. Ultimately, you (and your friends) face Mordru and the Time Trapper.












*selected by the Planetary Chance Machine?

Story fragment:

Tri-jitsu: the governing principle is “Attack as Three, Defend as One”. That is, increase power to your attacks by triplication, but provide a small target for defense by re-unifying.

Karate Kid competed in the World Tri-Jitsu Tournament on Carggg, and had so mastered the technique that many of the judges failed to observe that he actually never triplicated. When the few judges who did notice pointed this out, he was disqualified, although he otherwise would have (naturally) won.

Story Fragment:

The Legion of Supergirls vs, the Legion of Super-Heroes

Supergirls and Power Girls of alternate universes (which now exist only as quantum potentialities) join together in a fight to restore those universes to actual existence—but doing so will result in the utter destruction of the Multiverse as we know it!

Only the Legion of Super-Heroes stands in their way. But is the Legion strong enough to face two dozen Maids of Might?

Including:
Cir-El
Superwoman (Kristin Wells)
Ubermadchen
Lilith Lee, Satan Girl
Luma Lynai, the Supergirl of Staryl
Kara Zor-El
Kara Zor-L
Kara In-Zee
Kala Jor-El
Kara Marvel
Kendra Shakespeare
Supergirl Red & Supergirl Blue
Black Power Girl
Skygirl of Kormo
Hypergirl of Oceania
Supergirl-Prime
The Supergirl of Atlantis, daughter of Kara and Jerro
Laurel Gand, Valorgirl
Lauren Gand, Star Sapphirel
The 31st-century Power Girl, daughter of Laurel Kent and Jed Rikane
Ariella Kent, the 853rd century Supergirl
Brainiac’s Daughter
Lois Lane & Lana Lang

Concept Fragment:

Monstress and Blok: together again for the first time.

Character Outline:

Indira Pradeshi of 31st-century Venus was the daughter of Laevar Bolto, although even her mother was unaware of that fact. Bolto probably never knew she existed.

Easily in the 99.99th percentile of intelligence, she always felt isolated and alienated from her peers, which feelings were only amplified as she entered adolescence.

When her powers began to manifest, she was initially unaware of it. Small possessions would mysteriously vanish, turned to water or helium. When a single yellow rose in a vase at a kindly aunt’s home was discovered to have been replaced by one of fine gold filigree the day after her niece’s visit, no mention was made of the discovery. But when Indira saw her schoolroom stylus transform into a small, strange lizard, she knew something strange was going on. Her father, a noted biophysicist and cryptobiologist was unable to identify the creature. Closer examination in his laboratory showed that the creature, although appearing lizard-like externally, was internally organized like a miniature human being. Despite his elaborate precautions, the creature vanished from its cage before any of his colleagues could examine it.

Eighty-five percent of the Venusian populations are adherents of Perelandrianism, in varying degrees of piety and observance. Transmutation of the elements is therefore nearly universally rejected as morally repugnant, and an insult to Creation.

Indira kept her powers secret.

Privately and secretly, she practiced and experimented to define her limits. She was able to duplicate the molecular structure of any object which had been in her presence. She seemed to unconsciously, and subconsciously, sense and record the nature of anything within visual range. She was able to manipulate both the shape and substance of an object, but unable to alter total mass. Her powers affected both living and non-living matter. As illustrated by the lizard, she was able to imbue non-living matter with life, and transform living matter into inert materials.

At last, she began her great project. In a small copse in a local park, she began collecting rocks, soil, branches, and vegetable debris, until she had created a mass equal to her own: about fifty kilograms. Then, with careful concentration, she created a duplicate of herself.

Physically, it was perfect. She even made some improvements, clearing up ‘Indira-Two’’s acne, making the eyes brighter, the lashes longer, the hair fuller and glossier, the figure more adult, clothing it in the latest fashions.

Most of all, Indira Pradeshi was curious: would the new Indira be her intellectual peer, one whom she could make a confidante, an equal?

“I wonder,” she thought, “if it will be friends with me”

‘Indira-Two’ gazed at her young creator, eyes shining, awareness dawning, lips gradually curling into a gentle smile. With a small gesture, she transmuted the inferior girl into nitrogen gas.

Cosmic Queen is a living, but soulless, duplicate of Indira Pradeshi, with all her intellect, powers, and memories. She has never returned to the original Indira’s family, and they have all but given her up for dead. She has gone by a host of pseudonyms. She has traveled far from her original province, slowly modifying her form, changing her fingerprints and iris patterns, becoming not merely attractive but coldly, stunningly, beautiful. She is a true hedonist and a perfect sociopath, void of sympathy or morality.

Undeveloped Thought:

If the Legion had been founded by Lightning Lass, Projectra, and Element Lad, they would have had the same power set as the original Legion of Super-Villains

Tying up loose ends:

Becoming aware of the creation of Justice League Earth, the 1000-year-old Amazo robot tracks down the remaining Leaguers on Takron-Galtos (or Labyrinth, or Hell Planet, or wherever they are being kept)

(Storm Boy, Spider Girl, Tusker, Radiation Roy, and Golden Boy)

Amazo replicates their powers, and kills them all.

Now it is up to the Legion of Super Heroes to stop it’s interplanetary rampage.

I am sorry to admit it, but we Legion fans are getting old. Many of us are approaching eligibility for AARP, or even Social Security. Every year, there are fewer of us who enjoy the old Legion stories, and more, well, to put it bluntly, ignorant children.

This no doubt explains, at least in part, DC’s careless attitude towards its Legion property. But what is there to be done? Can you imagine 17-to-21-year-old college students enthralled by the old Legion Archives?

Maybe. Maybe not.

In an effort to promote the continued and future existence of the Legion, I am engaging in a new, long-term project. About once a month, I will go on ebay or somesuch, and purchase a good copy of a Legion archive, TPB or other compilation, hopefully hardbound, hopefully reprinting stories, preferably in color, from the sixties-through-eighties. I will then mail said copy to a local University library as an anonymous donation. I figure I can manage a dozen donations a year. I should be able to place one or two hundred or so, if actuarial tables hold.

I invite everyone here at Legion World to join me in this effort. There are about 7,000 accredited colleges and universities, large and small, throughout the U.S.

If we all work together… well, probably nothing. However, by the year 2957, college librarians throughout North America might be asking, “What in the world are these?”


Remember: non-anonymous charitable donations are tax-deductible!

LLL

Story concept:

Whenever Karate Kid dies, Projectra has her Orakills select a likely subject—a strapping farm boy, or burly, hardened criminal—and he is trained to physical perfection. Then magicks are laid upon him to change his appearance to perfectly mimic Val Armorr’s at the time of his death.

Then the soul of the honored victim is placed in a small, sealed bottle, and the soul of Val Armorr is summoned into the empty vessel.

But it is getting harder to summon the soul, which wishes to return to its eternal rest… and this time, something else has gotten into Karate Kid’s body…

Unexplored Continuity Trivia:

When Karate Kid was killed by Nemesis Kid, (and Orando was transported into another dimension) according to the terms of KKs will, all his earthly possessions were inherited by Timber Wolf. This included basically ½ of all the offworld assets of Orando, making TW basically a gazillionaire..

I don’t believe anything ever really came of it, although I think there was speculation that TW deeded it all back to Sensor Girl when she showed up again. There are a lot of plot points like this that just evaporate.

What's interesting about this is that Karate Kid was never 'king' or anything, he was addressed as the 'royal consort,' which is pretty much 'Her Majesty's Boytoy,' as far as status goes.

She clearly gave him some access to Orandan funds, so that he could have such an inheritance to bequeath to Brin, but his choice to do so is intriguing, and perhaps even a tad manipulative, as it sets up a quantity of Orandan money off-world and in the hands of a Legionnaire. It's been suggested at times that Orando is a bit of a hands-off planet, deliberately technologically and cultural 'backwards' compared to the UP (and, especially, Earth) and that Projectra's father and advisors weren't the biggest fans of Earth, the Legion, etc.

And now, a chunk of the Orandan economy is much more strongly tied to Earth (and the Legion) than some Orandans would necessarily like... With this act, Val may have been taking a political maneuver to block Orandan attempts to further remove themselves from the UP, or even to secede entirely, and, on a more personal note, to tie his widowed love to the Legion that she might otherwise no longer care to be a part of.

His choice of the single Timber Wolf, in particular, might even have been a subtle matchmaking attempt, recognizing Brin's wounded heart, and that in the event of his death, Projectra herself would also be in need of a strong presence at her side, and if she finds that her husbands will necessitates her spending some time with Brin, so much the better...

Obviously, nothing ever came of that, and yet, years later, we had a Threeboot in which Projectra and Brin were a couple, despite having little or nothing to do with each other (or in common) in previous continuities.

.

As for wealthy Legionnaires, the team also has Cham, who is likely the sole inheritor of the Brande fortune, and Jan, who is the single solitary owner of his abandoned homeworld and all the tech left behind, cultural artifacts, resources, etc. that entails. If Jan had the slightest interest, he could probably generate vast revenue by allowing development of Trom (it's not like the UP doesn't have people like the Titanian refugees in need of places to resettle), or even just allowing *tourism* to Trom (which it's been implied he doesn't, since Shvaugn was described as one of the very few people to have ever been there the time Jan took her there).

Others, like Shady and Dreamy and Dirk, have wealthy or high-status families, as well.

Agree 100% with the implications listed above. I don't think it all means Projectra loved The Kid any less: it is just the political realities of the Orandan monarchy.

Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth of England, is officially "Prince Consort", which means he is the father of the future Kings of England, but does not himself rule. (Elizabeth's position is distinguished as being Queen Regnant rather than Queen Consort. Technically, she is the King.) Philip also holds the title of Duke of Edinburgh, and probably others.

It is possible Val also had / has other official titles, "Marquis of Mumbletypegge", or whatever.

----------------------------------------------------------------

It is the year 3113. Projectra is now the Queen Mother, having abdicated over a quarter-century ago to her daughter. Her daughter has passed on a few years ago, and Orando is now ruled by Projectra’s grandson, Ferix.
Queen Mother Projectra suffers from advanced dementia; she lives in a fantasy world, but her illusions are now cartoonish, incomplete, and unconvincing. Behind closed doors, she is known as The Mad Queen.
Val Armorr, her long-time consort, is long dead—this time, permanently, as the Orakills have refused to revive him yet again.

Brin Londo, meanwhile, has retained a fraction of his inheritance, in a deal worked out with Orando, but is still rich beyond the dreams of avarice. He lives in a palatial mansion on Meissa IV, attended by both sentient and robotic servants. He has permanently reverted to the Furball form, which is much longer-lived than his humanoid appearance. He is still mute, but is usually accompanied by a levitating psionic voder which easily allows him to communicate.

He is even older than his chronological age might indicate, having spent a substantial amount of time “lost” in the past on at least two occasions. His red-gold fur is streaked with grey.

(The Furball incarnation has always reminded me somewhat of Warner Brother’s Gossamer)

Timber Wolf

Gossamer

(Of course, Mon-El’s costume puts me in mind of Underdog, and Brainiac 5 has always reminded me of Simon Barsinister

The year in 3257, the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

A two-year story arc. This is the one I would really do if given the resources of DC Comics. Or even some random Jo with adequate artistic ability and a willingness to create twenty-five full-length fanfic issues.

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The Legion is now a sad joke: the subjects of a 33rd-century “reality” holo-vid programme which is something of a cross between “The Real World”, “American Idol”, and “Survivor”. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of THC Holding Company, the most powerful conglomerate in the Greater United Planets.

For the last fifty years, the UltraCorp initiative has barred the Legion from accepting any applicants without allowing a special-forces unit of the ICC to draft them first. This effectively means that any powerhouses at or above the level of, say, Ultra Boy, Sun Boy or Element Lad, are forbidden from joining the Legion.

The five surviving Original Legionnaires have disappeared into ordinary lives of relative obscurity. Some are even believed gone. But they have been secretly packing the current Legion with ringers: heroes who appear weak, but have hidden strength. Their plan is to finish a long-term project which the other Legions never could: to confront and defeat the One True God of the Dominators.

There are also secrets hidden within Legion Headquarters of which even UPGov and THC are unaware.

But can a group of third-rate second-stringers possibly succeed where most powerful Legionnaires of the past have failed?

Starring in Alphabetical Order:
Caduceus
Dimensio of Neptune
Flint
Gravelle
Herokalos
Jill Frost
Psimian
S.E.P. Lad
Saturday Girl
the Sigellian Kid, from the Superboy Planet
Skyboy
Tin Soldier
Toadstone of Hykraius

and featuring special guest appearances by: Indomitable Lad, Leeta-96, M.E.C.H., the Daxamite Pirates, Captain Xyzkov, Ozmarda, Volaillere & Chanticleer of the Sorcerer's World, the mysterious Mr. Cobb, UltraCorps, and the 33rd Century Legion of Substitute Villains!